Concert to honor and showcase retired professor

A comment about his teeth when he was in seventh grade spurred retired IU Professor Emeritus Dominic Spera to take up playing the trumpet. Now, years later, the accomplished professor is being honored with a concert for his 70th birthday with the Jazz Fables concert series at Bear's Place tonight at 5:30 where he will be among the performers.\n"I was living with an aunt and uncle at the time. My uncle was and orthodontist. He said I had pronounced upper front teeth. He told me I had a choice. Get braces or play the trumpet," Spera said.\nAlthough he attended Chicago Musical College, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Manhattan School of Music in New York, Spera earned all of his degrees from IU. However, he "hit the big time" before finishing his undergrad degree. When he was only 15 credits away from earning his undergrad degree from IU he got his big break and took off for New York.\n"When I was in the army I met a fabulous trumpet player named Don Jacoby, he got me my big break with Fred Waring. I passed up a contract with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra a few weeks before and then I got the call. My family and I packed up and went to New York and we stayed for 10 years," Spera said.\nAlthough Spera headed for New York before finishing school he doesn't usually advise his students to do the same, especially if they are starting out 'cold,' without a job or a gig to go to. \n"When I taught my pedagogy class I gave a lecture called "So You Want to Go to the Big City." It was about what to do and what not to do. It really helps if someone has that information before they dive into the deep water," Spera said.\n"I would tell them to finish their undergraduate degree and get as good as they can first, then get an apprenticeship and save their money because they're going to need it. Then go to New York. In New York there is always room for another musician, it is one of the only cities where musicians can make a living and get the bills paid playing their chosen instrument without making 'the big time.''\nToday is not Spera's birthday. The concert was originally scheduled for April 18, Spera's actual birthday. That comming weekend he was scheduled to preform with the Bloomington Pops. Then the pops performance was cancelled so Spera decided to postpone coming up from Florida to perform at Bears. \n"We are very fortunate that we are able to celebrate his birthday," said Jazz Fables organizer and creator David Miller. "He has played with many great jazz artists, big band artists and vocalists in history. He is a Bloomington treasure and it is always a pleasure hear him play in a smaller group and play his own original arrangements. He is very accomplished at composing and arranging."\nAmong the musicians Spera will be preforming with tonight are his former student and IU school of music professor Tom Walsh, who plays the baritone sax, and long time friend and fellow jazz musician Al Cobine, who plays the saxophone.\n"It is always a pleasure to play with Dominic. We are very compatible together and we know a lot of the same songs. He knows many songs in many styles of music," Cobine said of his friend. \nAlthough many of the songs being played are original compositions and arrangements by Spera and Cobine, they are not rehearsing before their performance.\n"We don't need to. We never do. We know the songs," said Cobine of rehearsing for the performance.\nCobine met Spera in 1955 when he approached him to play trumpet in his big band. Of all the big name acts he has preformed with Spera marks his experiences preforming with Cobine as some of his most memorable. \n"One of my biggest performances with Frank Sinatra was a highlight and any time I preform with Al Cobine is always a great experience. Especially when I played with The Al Cobine Big Band, that was great too."\nAlthough Spera retired from IU in 1997 his commitment to music has stayed the same.\n"I do the same things I did before, I just retired from the establishment. I still do solo clinics, performances and write music. Just the usual."\nSpera has been playing the trumpet since junior high. He began teaching the trumpet at the age of 16. In high school he composed for the jazz band. Since then he has preformed, taught, written and arranged music. At the age of 70 he doesn't plan on stopping any time soon.\n"I'll stop playing when I can't play well," said Spera.